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| Monday,
February 25, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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Bir Devinder wins, promises
to revive Punwire SAS Nagar, February 24
Mr Bir Devinder Singh described it an intelligent mandate of the people. The SAD candidate, Mr Kiranbir Singh Kang, while fighting the anti-incumbency factor was placed at the third slot after polling 22,315 votes. Another dissident congress leader and a former minister in the Beant Singh government, Mr Harnek Singh Gharuan, who secured 7908 votes, appeared disappointed with the result. He left the counting centre mid-way of the counting. Barring a case in which the seal of the two electronic voting machines (EVMs) at the polling booths in Barauli and Batta villages had not been sealed, the counting exercise spread over 14 tables went off peaceful. The Panthic Morcha candidate, Mr Rajbir Singh Padiala, and the rebel Congress leader, Mr Balbir Singh Sidhu, were seen making rounds of the counting tables. The Congress candidate and the SAD candidate chose to sit on a raised stage in front of the counting tables.
In the first 10 rounds, it appeared that an Independent candidate, Mr Balbir Singh, the Panthic Morcha candidate, Mr Padiala and the SAD candidate, Mr Kiran Bir Singh Kang, were in a hot contest with Mr Sidhu taking the lead margin of around 3,500 votes. Mr Rajbir Singh Padiala started to show a decline in the 11-12 rounds. The Congress candidate and the SAD candidate gained ground from the 11th round onwards. When the Retuning Officer, Mr Jaipal Singh, announced the results, Mr Bir Devinder Singh counted 24,846 votes, the SAD candidate got 22,315 votes and an Independent, Mr Balbir Singh Sidhu, got 23,326 votes. Though the Returning Officer had banned the entry of the police officials and CID officials in the counting centres, police officials could be seen noting down the results to convey it to their superiors. As soon as the counting for the 15 th round came to an end, all the candidates except the Congress candidate left the venue in a haste. The supporters of Mr Bir Devinder Singh waited for him outside the gate of Shivalik Public School to garland him. He took a victory procession after paying his obeisance at different religious places. |
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Kang wins comfortably Naya Gaon, February 24 Mr Jagmohan Kang Mr Ujagar Singh Badali Mr Ravi Inder Singh On the other hand, gloom decended in the camps of both Panthic Morcha candidate, Mr Ravi Inder Singh, and the SAD nominee, Mr Ujagar Singh Badali. Leading his victory procession, Mr Kang visited various parts of the constituency to thank the voters. Displaying Congress flag and dancing on the tunes of dhols, Congress supporters toured the constituency. A shopkeeper in Naya Gaon said “We knew Mr Kang would defeat his rivals by huge margin and the result proved it”. Another resident of the area and president of the Joint Action Committee, Naya Gaon, Mr Manjeet Singh Kamboj, urged the Congress high command to give Mr Kang berth in the Cabinet. Mr A.K. Sharma, advocate and resident of Kansal village, claimed that there was a wave in favour of Congress. “It was Mr Kang’s charisma also which made the elections a cake walk for him”. A villager remarked, “We have done our job and sent Mr Kang to the Vidhan Sabha. Now, it is his duty to fulfil his promises”. Banur In a close contest with the Congress candidate, Ms Sheelam Sohi, Capt Kanwaljit Singh of the SAD was successful in retaining the seat though with a thin margin of votes. The Finance and Planning Minister of Punjab in the
Badal government, he won the Banur seat by 714 votes only. Of a total 1,06,023 votes polled Capt Kanwaljit Singh got 51,002 votes, Ms Sheelam Sohi got 50,288 votes, the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate Ms Karamjit Kaur got 3,464 votes and an Independent candidate, Mr Ashok Kumar was polled1269 votes. The counting process was delayed for an hour due to some administrative reasons but went through peacefully. In the first eight rounds of the counting, Capt Kanwaljit Singh retained a lead of 643 votes but in the 10th round, Ms Sheelam Sohi got the lead of 421 votes. But in the last round of counting, 2190 votes favoured the SAD, 1622 favoured Congress, 122 were bagged by the BSP and only 51 went to the Independent candidate. SAD supporters broke all the barriers and jumped across the main gate of the counting centre to congratulate their leader soon after the final results were declared. Later Capt Kanwaljit Singh thanked his supporters for their faith in him. |
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Garden fest ends on notes of German friendship Chandigarh, February 24 The letter which was read out by Ms Kim Singh to UT officials present during the prize distribution function held at Rose Garden today exuded a lot of warmth. It said that a rose friendship between one of the biggest rose gardens in Germany and Asia’s largest rose garden in Chandigarh would be announced soon. Despite this, the German city will also provide its expertise in the form of exchange programmes for
gardeners. Student exchanges between the two countries will also follow. The president of the Rose Society in Zweibruecken, Germany, Ms Hanne Stauch, has further offered to support and guide a yet-to-be formed Chandigarh Rose Friends Society for promoting rose culture and organising activities. Hobby gardeners and rose lovers may indicate their interest at telephone number 695323 or with CITCO. After this, the note of thanks was conveyed. While Adviser to UT Administrator Neeru Nanda could not be present at the function as chief guest, UT Finance Secretary Karan A. Singh gave away prizes to the winners of all contests starting from brass pipe, band, folk dance and flower contests held on the first day to on-the-spot painting and antakshri held today. In Group A (3 to 6 years of age) on-the-spot painting competition held today, Ankita Sharma, Pragati Trikha and Ayesha Verma got first, second and third prizes, respectively, whereas Bhavneet Singh, Kriti Sharma and Amrit Kaur bagged the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in Group B (6 to 9 years). K. Bala Monica, Pratibha Garcha and Mainak Pal, bagged first, second and third prizes, respectively, in Group C (9 to 12 years), whereas in Group D (12 to 15 years), Pawandeep Kaur, Deepali Thapar and Neha Thakur were awarded first, second and third prizes, respectively. Earlier, the on-the-spot paining competition was inaugurated by the Chief Engineer, UT Administration, Mr Puranjit Singh. In Group E (15 to 18 years), first, second and third prizes went to Rajesh Kumar, Perry Goswami and Vinay Ahuja, respectively. Apart from the formal function, the day was about bhangra and music. The rush was more compared to the first two days. Consequently, the problem of parking was also more. |
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On-the-spot painting competition Chandigarh, February 24 The subjects included birthday party, your school function and school recess for group B (6 to 9 years), a boat race, a picnic party, garden fair for group C (9 to 12 years), an art exhibition, my world of music and your City Beautiful for group D (12 to 15 years) and for the senior-most batch, group E (15 to 18 years), the subject was my new Internet world, star night in city and a fashion show. The judges for the event included former Principal of the Government College of Art, Mr Prem Singh, Mr D.S. Kapoor, Mr Rabinder Sharma, Mr Nirmal Prakash, Prof Inderjit Gupta and Prof. Baldev Rai Ratan, all from the Government College of Art, Sector 10. Besides the painting competition, a workshop on painting, portrait and sketching was also held on the occasion in which 10 participants from the Government College of Art took part. The convener for the workshop was Mr Ishwar Dayal. The result of the on-the-spot painting competition is group A — Ankita Sharma 1, Pragati Tirkha 2, and Ayesha Verma 3; group B — Vabneet Singh 1, Preeti Sharma 2, Amrit Kaur 3; group C — K. Bala Monica 1, Preeti Garcha 2, Mainak Pal 3; group D — Pawandeep Kaur 1, Deepali Thapar 2, Neha Thakur 3; and group E — Rajiv Kumar 1, Perry Goswami 2, and Vinay Ahuja 3. |
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Karamjit’s 2-yr girl seriously ill Chandigarh, February 24 The team has advised that a public appeal be made to all those persons who had come in contact with Krishan Singh or his wife Karamjit Kaur or with their relatives or attendants at the PGI Emergency or elsewhere between the morning of February 15, 2002, and February 20 evening to immediately contact the special control room made at the PGI at phone number 0172-746018. The NICD team of Dr Ichpujani
and Dr Harit accompanied by Dr Alka Kothari, held separate meetings with the Director, Health Services, Haryana, Dr
J.L. Chowdhry, Principal Director Health, Mr Rajan Kashyap and the Adviser, UT Administration, through the day and gathered information about the steps being taken to control the spread of the disease. The NICD team will visit Mansa tomorrow. The Haryana DHS has stated that the team was apprised of the situation in Hisar. The team has asked the Haryana health services to be on alert and take all possible precautions and monitor the situation closely for any fresh cases. The Punjab Health Department in consultation with the NICD has initiated steps for containing the isolated cases of fever with pneumonitis in the state. This was stated here today by Mr Rajan Kashyap, Principal Secretary, Health, Punjab. The civil surgeons of Mansa and Ropar have identified all persons in the villages of Kansal, Ropar and Riyond Khurd, Mansa, who might have in contact with the deceased Krishan Singh and his family. All such persons have been given standard prophylactic treatment and the situation is being monitored. Mr Kashyap added that the guidelines of the NICD for preparedness had been circulated to all civil surgeons in the state and the experts felt that there was no cause for alarm. The UT Administration has also stated that steps are on to locate the persons who had met or been in close contact with Krishan Singh or his family while he was in the city. All such persons have been given antibiotics which have immediate preventive effect in stopping the spread of the infection. For those who have not reported to the Administration but came in contact with the deceased or his family have been advised to take drugs such as doxycycline 100mg twice a day for 5 to 6 days under the advice of a doctor, as a precautionary measure. Private doctors and nurses have also been advised that if any patient with pneumonic plague-like symptoms visits their clinics they should report immediately to the Control Room. Meanwhile, with the admission of a nurse Rina Philips a resident of Chandigarh, employed in the private nursing home where Krishan singh was being treated, at PGI last night, the number of patients in the PGI isolation ward has gone up to eight. Though her condition is said to be stable, she is on intermittent oxygen. The condition of
Jasbir, Rakesh and Karamjit continues to be serious, with them being on constant assisted breathing. Naveen is also on intermittent oxygen while Purshotam and Jyoti and Satya are stable.
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RUN-UP TO THE BUDGET Chandigarh, February 24 Incorporation of innovative and novel tools, like more taxation benefits for those going in for insurance and measures like utilisation of the funds generated from insurance for several infrastructural projects in the forthcoming budget is what can help in further promotion of this sector, which is a key factor for economic growth of a country, say those in the industry. “Insurance and pension generate funds that are long term . Some of these funds can be deployed into the much-needed infrastructural projects, especially those with long gestation periods”, said Mr Maninder Sood, Branch Manager, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company. He said that tax benefits as of now , are available in instruments which are mostly for a period between three and six years. “Hence it becomes important to realign tax benefits in such a manner that long term funds are given more encouragement more than short term funds”. So far as the penetration of insurance sector is concerned, a large section of the population in the country is still untapped. “Given the longer life spans of people and weakening of the joint family system, it is important to encourage the working population to plan their old age from earlier stages of their life itself”, said Mr Sood. To encourage people to go in for insurance , the government needs to provide special taxation benefits. “Benefit in case of long term insurance policies, that is, 10 years and above should be increased in terms of special rebate in the income tax”, said Mr B.K. Sharma, Chairman, UGCE-IIT, an IRDA recognised insurance
training institute. “Such policies”, he said,” if converted to paid-up value before maturity or surrendered, should be refunded after deducting tax at source”. Another recommendation pertaining to the taxation benefit is that instead of clubbing insurance with a group of other instruments for tax benefits, a specific limit should be set aside in case of premiums paid for life insurance plans. Enhancement of the current limit of Rs 10,000 under Section 80 CCC for premiums paid under pension plans should be raised, recommend experts. “This amount should be raised to Rs 50,000”, said Mr Sood. “Increase of this limit would develop the right perception in the mind of an individual to prefer pensions, thereby helping him build sufficient funds during his working years so as to support him after retirement”, said Mr Sharma. In case of a pension plan, the industry recommended that the pension from annuity be treated as tax-free income, whereas commuted amount be taxed. A pension plan has two phases — savings and pension and during the ‘saving’ period, one gets benefit under section 80-CCC on the premium paid . However, the pension income one gets is treated as taxable. “In this case , the result is that one is taxed to invest his money in long term annuity, and this is in conflict with the objective of keeping funds in the system for long term. It thus becomes essential that the investor is taxed to withdraw money and must be given tax incentive to keep the money invested”, said Mr Sood. |
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‘Corrective measures’ for PU’s erring evaluators Chandigarh, February 24 A decision in this regard has been taken by a committee which had been constituted to examine cases which are put up for revising results of the candidates, in order to suggest ways and means to bring about improvement in the declaration of the results and to suggest punishment to erring officials. If an employee was found to have committed a mistake intentionally (indulges in some kind of mischief or fraud) regular departmental enquiry proceedings would be launched and action taken. Another penalty could be imposed on the employee in terms of debarring him from any
remuneration work like not assigning him separately paid duties for entrance tests, checking, coding, decoding of answer-books and scrutiny work, permanently or for a certain time period. The committee felt that under the present university
calendar rules, adequate punishment had not been provided for erring officials of the examination branch, even for those who committed serious mistakes while preparing or tabulating results of various university examinations. It was pointed out that only scrutinisers, who checked the results after preparation by the employees, were being punished for not detecting the mistakes. Small amounts were deducted from their
remuneration. The committee felt that there was a dire need to suggest some suitable punishment for also the employees of the examination branches who committed the mistakes. The committee decided that if an employee committed a minor mistake due to oversight or negligence or lack of working experience, his case may be decided by the Controller of Examinations in terms of issuing him oral or written warning or making entries in the service records. In case the mistake was committed inadvertently, an enquiry would be held against the employee and a warning issued with an entry in the service file. The committee decided that if an employee committed any major minor mistake, ‘again and again’, depending upon the seriousness of the mistake or damage done to the students examination system, a stern warning be issued to him. |
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THE three-day annual festival of gardens in Chandigarh got under way with the usual crowds, traffic jams, mela atmosphere and also with a flutter in the hearts of the young, who expected to have a good time. Over the years, the festival has been taken over by commercial interests, lament old time city residents. One school of thought wants the festival to return to the same old ways when elderly couples strolled in to see the roses and have a bite at one of the foodstalls in a relaxed atmosphere, besides catching up with old friends. The other opinion is that the festival should be declared a local holiday and the scope should be expanded to have more and more varieties in food, clothing sales and even entertainment. The holiday should mean total closure and this can be sold like the Rio carnival, said a futuristic sounding local resident, who is part of the younger generation. Amit Kumar, Ashok Mastie and Harbhajan Mann are performing. Maybe someone bigger like Asha Bhosle will bring in even the spending class. A festival like this clubbed with a major sales mela can make it like one of the shopping festivals promoted by Dubai or Singapore. It will help the economy and bring in tourists. What’s the score? Counting of votes in Punjab kept some politically inclined people busy on Sunday. For once the score on the political front was as important as Tendulkar’s score. A young man out to attend a marriage function scheduled in the morning used his cell phone to call up his friend and specify that he wanted to know the score of the polls and not of Tendulkar’s batting on the same day in distant Nagpur. A scribe sitting nearby noticed that even the “dulha” was keen on the political score. People who were out of their homes or away from televisions called up friends frantically to know about the developments in Punjab. With electronic voting machines the counting is very fast. Thus the positions change very quickly unlike the hand counted ballots when results started pouring in only by the evening. Day of rejoicing Last week it was a day of rejoicing for Congressman and former Union Minister Venod Sharma’s family. His son, Manu, accused in the famous Jessica Lal murder case in April, 1999 , was out on bail as Sharma’s niece got married. At the Sharma farmhouse all eyes were on a quiet and slimmed down Manu as he mingled with the guests with close confidants of Sharma watching with a glint in their eyes. It was Manu’s first public
appearance since the murder took place. Interestingly, at the party were local politicians from all parties. Sitting MP, Pawan Bansal, former MP Satya Pal Jain of the BJP and Venod Sharma’s neighbour, Harmohan Dhawan ,a former Union Minister, were all there. The guest list was almost a who’s who of local party circuit, including officials of the Punjab and Haryana Governments and the Chandigarh Administration. Spicy bread vendor Initially there were barbers, then pan-bidi wallas, and now we have bread-egg vendors adding spice to your life by providing the latest news and information that cannot, and should not be published in the papers. If you do not believe it, go to Sector 18 in the mornings or even in the evenings. You will find the leisure class hanging, not in front of the cigarette shops or tea stalls, but around the “paddling encyclopedia of Chandigarh”. “Sahib, remembers that lady living in the corner house. She has left her two kids and husband has run away. I knew it from the very beginning that she would elope. She was so-ooo good looking and her husband so ugly. Langur ke palle hoor. Otherwise also, he used to remain on tour for almost 15 days a month. It was bound to happen,” he was heard screaming on Wednesday last. And it wasn’t the first time he had provided residents with “neighbourhood news”. Earlier also, he had informed them about the registration of a criminal case against a husband by his wife. Also about the sad demise of an old lady putting up in Sector 19. So folks, now for the price of bread, you can get a lot more. Happy listening. Brainy beggars Who says entrepreneurs are the only ones evolving strategies! Beggars too can make business plans. They beg but after giving you the impression that they are hard working victims of circumstances. The testimony is there for all to see in Sector 35. Clad in soiled rags, they march up and down the parking lot in front of the hotels with polish-bags loosely dangling from their lean shoulders. As you emerge out of the car, one beggar or the other surrounds you regardless of the fact that you are wearing sneakers. You point towards your shoes and ask them to shoo off, but undeterred they casually place the bags on the road and begin to beg. “Haven’t eaten for three days. If do not want to get your shoes polished, at least give me something,” they cry. Poor things, you are forced to think before pulling out the dough from your pocket. Driving ground The cricket ground or the Law Ground at the Panjab University campus has become a happy hunting ground for those interested in learning driving. The ground serves its original purpose during the cricket tournaments of the university or at times one can see students playing matches there. But for most of the time, people use the ground for learning driving. Scooters and cars have become a common thing in the ground, especially in the mornings and evenings. Though the ground is fenced but the opening at the entrance is enough to let in even bigger four wheel vehicles like Tata Siera. Vehicle learners have caused enough damage to the ground. Cricket lovers want that the university authorities must take action and stop entry of vehicles in the ground and it should be maintained properly. Out in the open Security personnel at Panjab University here keep searching for firewood when they are not on duty. They complain that it is almost ‘‘impossible’’ to perform duty under the open skies at night in winters. Interestingly, some of them who are posted at the university gates or outside girls hostels during the night bring firewoods from their houses. The security personnel say it is the fire which helps them perform their duty, otherwise they would freeze in the winters. They admit that the university has provided them with the ‘‘best’’ warm clothes. Those posted at the Gate No. 2 of the university have to spend the entire night in the open and they are ‘‘forced’’ to light fire. The cabin at the gate is of little use as it is ‘‘very difficult’’ to keep an eye on those entering and leaving the campus during the night from the cabin. It is not only the cold which creates problem for them but even the summer months are very difficult. In summer, they have to spend the nights coping with mosquitoes. They admit that the university authorities cannot do much for them to cope with winters but they could at least provide fans to do away with mosquitoes during the summers. School or park? Recently, an advertisement in an English daily caught the attention of residents of Sector 47-D that their favourite park/ground used for marriages, Ramlilas and other functions is being allotted to a private public school. The sector’s welfare association and elected councillors had for a brief while toyed with the idea of developing this park. Now, the welfare association has warned the administration that no more schools should be set up here as it would add to traffic jams in the congested area. The peace loving people would be compelled to launch a struggle to save this park and develop it for the children to play. Compost units The Environment Society of India (ESI) has decided to set up vermiculture compost units in the schools in Chandigarh, Mohali (Punjab), Panchkula (Haryana) and Parwanoo (HP). The ESI has raised these segments in the campuses of Moti Ram Arya Senior Secondary School, Sector 27 and Vivek School, Sector 38. The ESI has the largest such network in India. Training will be imparted to teachers and members of the school eco-clubs under the National Green Corps (NGC). Since 1988 the ESI organised 30 workshops for school teachers. The teachers in charge eco-clubs or Principals of school, can contact the ESI, Karuna Sadan, Sector 11-B, Chandigarh 160011 (Phone/Fax 746832).
— Sentinel |
City — neither beautiful nor bountiful Chandigarh, February 24 This emerged as the conclusion from the sixth meeting of the Citizens’ Forum for Chandigarh Heritage, held here today under the chairmanship of the first architect of the city, Mr M.N. Sharma. The meeting was attended by former PGI Director I.C. Pathak, Air Marshal (retd) Randhir Singh, Chairman of the Indian Institute of Architecture, Punjab and Chandigarh Chapter S.N. Kohli, who is also Secretary of the Forum, Dr Y.N. Mehra, Former Punjab Chief Secretary P.H. Vaishnav and former CITCO Director D.V. Bhatia. The Forum members discussed the future of the ever-expanding labour colonies, enforcement of the revised and existing bye-laws and zoning regulations, defacement of public places, hazardous opening of V-3 fast traffic roads, garbage disposal, regulation of vehicular traffic and a co-ordinated development plan for Chandigarh region. These had caused “incalculable harm to Chandigarh and the entire region,” said Mr M.N. Sharma. The architect, probably the only living one to have developed two capital cities in the world, Abuja and Chandigarh, expressed dismay at the developments taking place in the city, saying that the Nigerian federal capital Abuja, which was seven times bigger than Chandigarh and had been inspired by the City Beautiful concept, had been more careful in maintaining its character than the city. The Forum today decided to seek an appointment with the Punjab Governor and UT Administrator, J.F.R. Jacob, to personally draw his attention to these problems which were changing the character of the city. Mr Sharma argued that the city, by its very nature of an ideal Indian city for the working class, could have drawn tourists to see the beauty of its planning and infrastructure, but the strength of the city was being frittered away by residents who refused to be part of the Master Plan, spread filth and encroached upon government land. The Forum expressed its displeasure at the parking system in the city, as cyclists and rickshaw-pullers not fitting reflectors and the average citizen’s habit of not wanting to pay for facilities and services to be created in the city. Mr Sharma said he had been in touch with those who were associated with the management of modern cities of the world, like Kuala Lumpur, Abuja, Islamabad and Singapore, but Chandigarh seemed to be the only place where the heritage of the city was at risk. Mr Sharma said the Master Plan could accommodate even new realities of the city, which has around one-thirds of its population residing in labour colonies. |
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Hundreds attend Jain
deeksha samaroh Panchkula, February 24 The day began with the devotees organising a rath yatra in the morning. The yatra began from the Jain Sthanak. The rath yatra included devotees on tractor-trailers , who were chanting bhajans. Devotees had organised various tableaux, depicting the life of Lord Mahavir and how he attained moksh. Later, Rajni Devi changed to the traditional white clothes of a bhikshu and amidst the chanting of mantars by a congregation of saints renounced the world. |
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Mass marriage
function Panchkula, February 24 Mr Sampat Singh said that arranging such mass marriages was typical of a civilised society. He asked the social organisations to come forward for this kind of service. While eight couples were married according to Sikh rites, five according to Muslim rites and six according to Hindu rites. |
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Sardari Lal Kalra dead Chandigarh, February 24 He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters. His funeral procession will start tomorrow at 12 noon from 115, Sector 23-A, Chandigarh. |
One held for quarrelling with cop Chandigarh, February 24 Injured: Panchkula resident Vivek Jasuja was injured after his scooter was knocked down by a Maruti car near Transport Chowk. He has been admitted to the Sector 32 hospital. The police has arrested the car driver, Gagan Deep, a resident of Mohali, and registered a case. Resident of Gurdaspur Harbhajan Singh was injured after he was hit by a scooter near the Sector 39 police station. He has been admitted to the PGI. The police has registered a case. Car theft: Sector 35 resident Subhash Chander has reported that his Maruti car (CH-01-Q4546) has been stolen from Sector 34. The police has registered a case. Sector 30 resident Raman Sharma has reported that his car (CH-01-V-6561) has been stolen from Sector 35. A case has been registered.
PANCHKULA Satta:
The police has arrested Madan Lal from the road dividing Sectors 16 and 17 on the charge of playing satta and seized Rs 916 from him. It is learnt that as many as 35 gamblers were arrested during this month. |
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